London President Donald Trump lost no time in attempting to establish his distinctive image over a free-flowing Inauguration Day filled with speeches, informal conversations, and formal balls.
Trump’s actions and remarks this time aim to discredit many of former President Joe Biden’s judgments and replace them with his own clear approval, in contrast to four years ago when his administration started in a flurry of unpreparedness.
Here are the headlines of Trump’s foreign policy actions during the first day of his 1,461-day tenure, ranging from tariffs, TikTok, and the Middle East to the climate disaster and global health, along with the reactions of the international community.
Russia
The president had earlier stated that he would put an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours of entering office. This is just a half-day. He said, “Monday,” adding, “I have another half day left.”
Europe was alarmed by that notion, fearing that Trump may pressure Ukraine into a deal that benefits Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some have interpreted Trump’s recent extension of this deadline to up to six months as an indication of his support for Ukraine.
Trump seemed to criticize Putin, one of the autocratic leaders he has previously spoken highly of, on Monday, claiming that he is not doing so well.
Regarding how the war is going for Putin, Trump claimed that it isn’t helping him look good and added that by refusing to make a deal, he was ruining Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to a question on Tuesday regarding Trump’s remarks by saying that while they appreciate the American people’s choice, Trump has frequently stated that they equally respect the Russian people’s choice.
Middle East
The president expressed doubt that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which his staff helped organize, would endure, adding, “That’s not our war.” They are fighting a war.
U.S. officials attribute the success of the arrangement to Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East peace envoy.
He alluded to his experience in real estate in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment have killed over 46,000 people and uprooted the majority of the population, according to local authorities.
Gaza resembles a huge construction site. He added that it’s a great site on the sea with the nicest weather, so it truly has to be reconstructed in a different way. It could be used for some lovely things.
Biden’s penalties against Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank who have been charged with violence against Palestinians were likewise revoked by Trump.
A series of pro-Israel actions, such as relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and abandoning the Iran nuclear deal, defined the president’s first term. Perhaps the most significant foreign policy accomplishment of the first Trump administration was the 2020 Abraham Accords, which established connections between Israel and a number of Middle Eastern and North African nations.
North Korea
There was a noticeable sense of unease in South Korea following Trump’s description of North Korea as a nuclear nation.
Since the statement could be seen as acknowledging North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, U.S. officials have long avoided using it. North Korea can never be acknowledged as such, South Korea declared on Tuesday.
The president’s nuclear brinkmanship with Kim Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea, was one of the most shocking stories of his first term. After exchanging nuclear threats and personal jabs, Trump declared to the world that “we fell in love.”
China
During his 2024 campaign, President Trump threatened to repeat the trade battle with Beijing he waged during his first term by proposing to impose a 60% tariff on all Chinese exports.
He now argues that a transaction whereby the United States buys half of the social media company TikTok may be pushed through with the help of these levies. A Biden rule requiring the Chinese tech corporation ByteDance to sell its share in TikTokor, which would result in the platform’s ban in the United States, was put on hold for 75 days by an executive order issued by Trump on Monday.
Trump told reporters that the United States should have the right to half of TikTok. He said he could envisage an agreement where the U.S. polices it a bit, maybe a lot, when asked about ByteDance’s tight links with the Chinese government.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that Beijing was open to cooperating with the incoming U.S. government while upholding the values of respect for one another and peaceful coexistence, possibly alluding to previous conflicts.
Europe’s far right
People from the worldwide political right, including some from the extreme hard-right populist edges, were invited to Washington on Monday, despite the fact that U.S. inaugurations have traditionally been mostly domestic affairs.
They included lawmakers from Alternative for Germany, a far-right nationalist group that Trump ally Elon Musk has recently supported and that Berlin is monitoring for possible extremism.
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s adamantly anti-immigration prime minister, was also present.
Longtime Trump ally Viktor Orban, the populist prime minister of Hungary, claimed that Trump’s inauguration would help the far-right’s political offensive against the mainstream of the European Union.
“So the great attack can begin,” he stated during a Budapest event. “I now begin the offensive’s second phase, which aims to take over Brussels.
According to her own perspective, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, is a fierce opponent of his.
She stated in a lecture at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that we have entered a new period of fierce geostrategic competition. It is not in anyone’s best advantage to break the bonds in the global economy.
Climate change
One of Trump’s first executive acts, as anticipated, was to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord of 2016, wherein nations committed to keeping post-industrial temperature increases to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Along with Yemen, Iran, and Libya, the United States will now be nonsignatories to the agreement, which Trump said was a copy but which experts say is still humanity’s greatest chance to prevent a global disaster.
The Biden administration stated earlier this month that new offshore oil and gas drilling along the majority of the U.S. coastline would be prohibited, unless Congress passed an act to repeal the moratorium.
The White House claimed that despite Trump’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill,” the Paris deal does not “reflect our country’s values.”
The WHO
Trump was also expected to reject Washington’s participation in the World Health Organization. Beijing and the WHO both dispute his claims that the international health organization supported Chinese government efforts to mislead the globe about COVID.
With 18% of the WHO’s $6.8 billion budget, the United States is by far the organization’s largest financial supporter. Trump claimed in his unilateral order to withdraw from the WHO that it was unfair since China has a larger population but a smaller contribution.
According to experts, quitting the organization might jeopardize global initiatives to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.